2 men, 2 woman arrested in separate drug busts

Two men and two women were arrested in separate drug busts last week, according to Kingsland police.

Officers acting on two separate tips from concerned residents conducted a traffic stop and an unrelated welfare check on two separate vehicles that resulted in the arrests Friday night.

Police said they stopped a white Ford Ranger truck that was parked in front of the Kmart in the Camden Woods Shopping Center about 9:30 p.m. Friday. A concerned resident had alerted police that the driver, identified as 27-year-old Larry Malphrus III of Ridgeland, S.C., appeared to be intoxicated.

As officers spoke with Malphrus and his passenger, 26-year-old Ashley Warren of Bluffton, S.C., they became suspicious of their behavior and requested the assistance of a K9 unit. The narcotics K9 alerted on the vehicle and a search was conducted, police said.

During the search, officers recovered a variety of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Malphrus and Warren were arrested and charged with possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, possession of drug related objects, possession of hydromorphone schedule II drug, possession of clonazepam schedule IV drug, and trafficking a schedule II controlled substance.

In a separate incident, at about 9:55 p.m., officers were alerted to another intoxicated driver leaving the Green Cedar truck stop at Exit 6. Officers said they received information that a man driving a blue Chrysler PT Cruiser entered the truck stop and appeared nervous and intoxicated.

Officers saw the vehicle traveling east on Laurel Island Parkway and initiated a traffic stop for speeding. Officers made contact with the driver and identified him as 57-year-old Michael Laws of Dryden, Va., and identified his passenger as 22-year-old Samantha Mitchell of Kingsport, Tenn.

A voluntary consent search of the vehicle was conducted, which resulted in the discovery of multiple illegal narcotics and drug paraphernalia, police said. Both were arrested on numerous drug charges.

All four suspects in both cases were transported to the Camden County jail in Woodbine and were awaiting bond hearings.

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